‘A Europe without Walls, without Fences, without Borders’: A Desecuritisation of Migration Doomed to Fail

Abstract

It has been commonly argued that amid the so-called 'migration crisis' in 2015, Greece ignored its Dublin Regulation obligations due to unprecedentedly high migration flows, structural weaknesses, fears and uncertainty. However, this narrative deprives the Greek government of agency. In contrast, this article puts forward an alternative analysis of Greece's attitude. It argues that the Greek government's policy choices in the realms of border controls, migration and asylum in 2015, prior to the 'EU-Turkey deal', manifested a well-calculated desecuritisation strategy with a twofold aim. In this respect, this article provides an analysis of why and how the newly elected SYRIZA-led coalition government embarked on a desecuritising move and assesses the success/effectiveness of this move and the desecuritisation strategy. It argues that although the government's desecuritising move was successful, overall, its desecuritisation strategy failed to produce the anticipated results vis-à-vis the government's twofold aim and intended outcomes.

Localising ‘radicalisation’: Risk assessment practices in Greece and the United Kingdom

“…The CSS and the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection played key roles; the former in an attempt to enhance its own status and resources, 8 and the latter in an effort to increase the government's legitimacy. Indeed, the Greek government was still trying to rebuild its credibility within the EU, after allegations that the country's borders were left purposely uncontrolled, and amid threats from certain Greek officials to instrumentalise the refugee situation and the EU's fears of returning foreign fighters to gain leverage in the bailout negotiations (see Skleparis, 2018).…”

Examining the Global North Migration Policies: A “Push Out – Push Back” Approach to Forced Migration

“…Securitization has become so firmly embedded within the core of some institutions, for example the EU, that countries wishing to liberalize their migration policies are now called to order. During the recent migration and refugee crisis in Europe (Pachocka, ,b), this took place both in Greece, which the European Commission forced to reintroduce internal border controls (Skleparis, : 995–996), and in the other parts of Mediterranean, where the Member States rejected Italy's approach to rescuing refugees on the high seas, unwilling to offer them a comfortable “taxi service”. The rhetoric of humanitarian aid has been superseded by a militaristic approach and border surveillance (Campesi, a).…”

La “crisis” de los inmigrantes y refugiados en Europa: ¿una crisis de gobernanza?

“…El segundo escenario de futuro de la Unión Europea en relación a sus políticas migratorias para 2030, aunque no sólo, es un escenario deseable, si se quiere hasta utópico, una utopía idealista, es el escenario de la Europa sin muros, sin vallas, sin fronteras: la Europa Cosmopolita (Beck y Grande, 2006;Skleparis, 2017;Kamminga 2017).…”